Home › Hidden Leaks
Serves: peace of mind, one way or the other. Hidden leaks announce themselves quietly — a damp patch, a slipping gauge, a bill that doesn't add up.
The short version: damp patches, ceiling stains, boiler pressure that keeps dropping, and a water bill that's crept up for no obvious reason are the classic signs. The stopcock and meter test below tells you, in about twenty minutes, whether water is escaping somewhere it shouldn't. If it is, ring 020 4577 2888 to be put through to a local plumber who can trace it properly.
Damp that doesn't dry, boiler pressure that keeps sliding, and a water bill that's crept up. Any one on its own is worth a look; two together are worth a call.
None of these prove a leak on their own — old houses have damp for plenty of reasons, and a bill can rise for plenty of innocent ones too. But taken together, or if one keeps recurring, they're worth running the test below rather than ignoring.
Turn everything off, note the meter, wait, check again. If the numbers have moved with nothing running, water is going somewhere.
No meter? A simpler version works with the stopcock: turn off every tap and appliance, then listen closely at the stopcock itself for a faint hiss or feel for a vibration — a sign water is still moving through it even with nothing switched on.
Pipework that's been altered in stages over a century tends to have one tired joint with company. Age is the biggest single factor.
The Victorian terraces and mill rows around the town — Balnamore is a good example — often carry pipework in mixed metals that's been patched, extended and part-modernised by several generations of owners, and a joint that's been quietly weeping under a floor for months can go unnoticed until the ceiling below finally shows a stain. Because the pipework in these houses tends to age together, one leak found is a good reason to have the rest looked over rather than assuming it's an isolated fault.
Rural properties bring a different version of the same problem: long private supply runs from the road, sometimes buried without much record of exactly where, can develop a slow leak that shows up as nothing more than a permanently soft, greener patch of ground rather than a puddle — easy to miss for a long time on a farm with plenty of naturally damp ground already.
Most homes have it in a small chamber under a cover near the boundary or footpath, sometimes at the kerb. If you can't find one, you may be unmetered, in which case the stopcock version of the test — listening and watching with everything off — is the one to use instead.
Yes — a leak on the heating side of the system, perhaps at a radiator valve or a joint under a floor, will show up as boiler pressure that keeps sliding down between top-ups. It's a different pipework loop to the mains supply, but the same principle: repeated drops mean something is losing water somewhere, and it's worth a proper look rather than continual refilling.
Look directly above it first — a bathroom, an en-suite, or pipework in that section of floor are the usual sources. If there's nothing directly above, the water may be travelling along a joist or pipe before it drips, so the stain's position doesn't always sit right under the source. Note the shape, whether it's growing, and whether it's damp to the touch before you call.
A modest, explainable rise — more guests, a garden hose in summer — usually isn't. A rise you can't account for, especially alongside a damp patch or a musty smell somewhere in the house, is worth running the meter test over, since a small constant leak can run for months before it's obvious any other way.
The front of the box — how the line works and the areas it covers.
Go to home →Stopcock, taps, electrics — the first five minutes in order.
Open the card →Pressure drops, error codes, cold radiators — and gas safety.
Open the card →What's safe to try, and when it's NI Water's sewer instead.
Open the card →How the bill is put together and what to ask up front.
Open the card →Pressure, controls, immersion — the checklist before the call.
Open the card →The gentle thaw — a defrost, not a fry — plus prevention.
Open the card →Any hour, one call, and you're through to a local plumber covering Ballymoney and the townlands around it.
Call now